Hi there, I'm Dr. Sara. I'm a licensed veterinarian who works exclusively with dogs and cats. I'm really sorry to hear that Rondo hasn't been acting normally today - I'll do my best to help.

When I hear of pets who are unable to settle like you're describing, there are two different causes I'm looking for: either physical discomfort of some kind (including pain anywhere, itching, or nausea) or anxiety. As you can imagine, physical discomfort is pretty much impossible for me to assess without seeing her myself, but most times owners have an idea of what might be bothering their dog by watching their behavior. Some dogs with sore backs will guard their spine (tighten their belly muscles when you try to bend their back), some dogs with joint or limb pain will limp, dogs with severe itching are easy to spot because you're seeing lots of scratching. Nausea or GI discomfort is often followed by vomiting or diarrhea - they can get all crampy just like we can when they are having a GI upset. I've seen dogs with things like abscessed anal glands, severe allergies, fleas, GI upsets (diarrhea or vomiting), back or limb pain, and even ear infections be up all night pacing and trying to settle. The possibilities, unfortunately, are many. If we've done a full physical and potentially some lab work if we thought it indicated and we cannot see any sign of physical problems, that's when we will consider anxiety. Obviously some pets show us with their behavior that it's anxiety by "targeting" the source of their anxiety - for instance, my dog had a serious phobia of stink bugs, which would cause him to pant, drool excessively, pace, and whine any time we had one in the house. It took me awhile, but eventually I recognized that the bug was the trigger. Equipped with these tips, I think that you may be able to have a better idea of what's bothering her. Red flags that indicate that we need to seek emergency care would be: any sort of abdominal distention, pale or white gums, very high heart rate (>140 beats per minute), or any sort of labored breathing.

Please keep in mind that what you're describing is very vague in that it can indicate a very wide variety of diseases. It's going to be impossible for me to know exactly what's going on without examining him myself but I can try to talk you through the possibilities as you update me on how he's doing. The safest thing to do, always, is to have him examined in person by a veterinarian. Please let me know how he's doing and what other questions I can answer for you.

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